A review by christinekc
Ode to the Earth in Translation by George Looney

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

3.25

As someone who was born and raised in Ohio, a lot of it felt very familiar, despite not being the same part of the state. The vibes were just inexplicably Ohioan. Overall, it was an enjoyable read, though I did take issue with one particular poem. I found it entirely without nuance while covering difficult topics like suicide, pedophilia, and necrophilia. See the spoiler for more info.

The poem In a Diner in Franklin, Pennsylvania did not sit well with me, especially coming from a male writer. The poem seemed to sexualize a local myth of young girls who hung themselves, naked in a diner, with the lights on. It characterized them as wanting to be sexualized, singing as they tied the ropes. It was hyper-focused on how amazing their thighs were. It described the men who stared at them on their drive home and touched themselves. It described the men who saw them and "touched their wives awake" which made these girls' "last breaths a blessing."

What bothered me was not the content, because of course you can always claim that the author was merely describing how the town recounted the event. What bothered me was the total lack of nuance in this poem. In my mind, if this was a real event (there are no discoverable news reportings of the event, which is strange because the speaker says that there was one) then either foul play or mental illness was involved. Coming from a male writer especially, I found this to all to be very troubling.
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